Epidemiological monitoring of staphylococcus aureus in east germany

The program of epidemiological monitoring of S. aureus in East Germany covers hospitals, out-patient facilities, food poisoning, development of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents and industrial animal breeding. Initial results show that epidemiologically virulent strains stemming from hospital infections can be clearly distinguished from strains of other origins. Apart from the fact that, due to the tendency of these bacteria to develop resistance, penicillin cannot generally be administered before determining resistance, the development of resistance to other chemotherapeutic agents is important only in the case of hospitalized patients. Up to now, industrial animal breeding has had virtually no bearing on staphylococcal infection in man with the possible exception of food poisonings.